Basket-handle.



PATENTED NovQa, 1904..

R. C. TOTZKE.

BASKET HANDLE.

APPLIOATION FILED APR. a, 1904.

NO MODEL.

Patented November 8, 1904.

UNITED ASTATES PATENT Orrrca.

ROBERT CHARLES TOTZKE, OF ST. JOSEPH, MICHIGAN.

BASKET-HANDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No.774,542, dated November 8, 1904.

Application filed April 9, 1904.

T0 @ZZ whom, it may concern:

Be it known that LROBERT CHARLES TOTZKE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of St. Joseph, in the county of Berrien and State of Michigan, have invented a new and Improved Basket-Handle, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to an improved baskethandle intended primarily for use upon veneer baskets, but also adapted for use upon baskets of other kinds.

The object of the invention is to provide a basket-handle of wire or other similar material which may be used instead of the ordinary wooden handles provided upon veneer baskets and which is adapted for application to baskets of different sizes and with reinforcing-strips of different widths disposed along the upper margins thereof.

A further lobject of the invention is to provide a basket-handle of the type speciiied which may be applied to baskets more readily than any devices ofrsomewhat analogous character now in use and which when applied to a basket will be securely connected therewith, so that it cannot become accidentally detached when the basket is in use, and thereby cause the contents'of the basket to be spilled.

l/Vith the objects above stated and others of minor character in view, as will hereinafter appear, the invention consists in a novel form of basket-handle hereinafterrfully described, and having the novel features thereof clearly pointed out in the appended claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of` this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in` all the views.

Figure l is a perspective view of a veneer basket provided with a handle of the kind which forms the present invention, a part of the basket-lid being broken away to show the manner of securing the terminal of the handle within the basket. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the improved basket-handle before application to the basket, and Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional detail view taken transversely through the 'side of a basket having the improved handle applied thereto and show- Serial No. 202,328. (No model.)

ing the mode of securing the handle in position.

Referring to Vthe drawings, B designates an ordinary veneer basket provided at the upper margin with inner and outer reinforcing-strips b and respectively. O designates the cover or lid of the basket.

The handle is preferably formed of a single piece of wire l, bent to form an arch and having the sides 2 2 ofthe arch bent inward at their lower ends, as shown at 3 3. The wire extends upward slightly from each of the bends 3 and is then bent in a plane at right angles to that of the arch to form a loop 4. At the side of the vloop 4 opposite the bend 3 the wire is bent outward in a plane parallel to that of the arch` as shown at 5, and is then extended upward to present a vertical terminal portion 6. Y The bends specified in the preceding paragraph complete the formation of the handle prior to its application to a basket and result in the production of the structure shown in Fig. 2. In order to apply the handle to the basket, the ends of the arch are ,arranged on opposite sides of the basket, as `shown in Fig. l, and the loops 4 4 are Vforced upward under the outer reinforcing-strips bf until the lower edges of the reinforcing-strips b engage with the bends 3 and 5 and check the upward movement of the loops between the reinforcing-strips L and the side walls of the basket. The vertical terminal portions 6 6 of the handle are then bent over the Lipper margins of the side walls of the basket, as shown in Fig. 3, forming bends 7. The continued bending downward of the terminal portions 6 causes the formation of bends 8 over the inner reinforcing-strip and finally the ends of the handle are bent under the inner reinforcing-strip Z1, as shownjat 9 in Figs. l and 3.

After a handle has been securedto a basket in the manner before described the accidental displacement of the handleis practically impossible. The engagement of the'loops 4 between the outer reinforcing-strip and the side wall of the basket prevents upward movement of the handlevrelatively to the basket,

and this action of the loops 4 4 is supplebottom, said loops extending' in opposite dimented by the engagement vol.E the ends of the handle with the under surface of the inner reinforcing-strip as shown at 9. Disengagementof the handle by pressing' down ward thereon is effectively prevented by the bending of the vertical terminal portions 6 6 of the handle over the upper margin of the basketwall and downward within the basket. It will thus be seen that the handle while quickly and easily applied to a basket is very securely connected therewith and has no tendency to become detached.

A special feature ot' the handle which forms the present invention is the arrangement ot' the loops @L A in planes at right angles to the plane of the main arch ot' the handle and their arrangement at opposite sides of the plane of the handle-arch. On account o'lI this arrangement ot' the loops the turning ot' the handle out ot' its proper position relatively to the basket, except by the bending of the handle, is prevented. Upon one side the turning is prevented by one of the bends 5, and the turning movement of the handle in the opposite direction is prevented by the other bend 5.

As compared with the ordinary wooden handles of the kind generally employed upon veneer baskets the handle forming the present invention is characterized by several points ot' superiorityviz. greater durability, greater ease ol application to the basket, less cost, and less interference with the packing o'l' the baskets for shipments. lVith handles of wire attached to the baskets in the manner explained in the foregoing paragraphs it is possible to bend the handle downward into the interior ot' the baskets so as to permit the nesting ot' baskets, so as to occupy a minimum of space in shipment.

"While I have described and illustrated the handle forming the present invention as applied to a veneer basket, it is obvious that the handle may be applied to baskets of other types provided with reinforcing strips or equivalent structures at their upper margins, and it will also be understood that the handle may be applied to boxes il" provided with reinforcing-stril'is at their upper margins.

Having thus described my invention, l claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A basket-handle formed oi' wire bent to form upwardly-projeeting loops open at the bottom, said loops being at right angles to the plane of the handle and having their tree legs bent imwardly approximately parallel with the side members oi' the handle.

Q. A basket-handle Jformed of wire bent to lform upwardly-projecting loops open at the rections and at right angles to the plane of the handle, the free legs oi the loops being bent up\ Yardly.

3. A basket-handle formed of wire having its side members bent inwardly and then upwardly and at right angles to the plane of the handle to form loops open at the bottom, the free legs of the loops being bent outwardly and upwardly.

4;. A basket-handle formed of wire having its side members bent inwardly and then upwardly and at right angles to the plane of the handle to form loops open at the bottom, said loops extendingin opposite directions and having their free legs bent outwardly and upwardly.

5. A basket-handle, consisting of a single member bent to present a central arch spanning the basket, inward bends at the ends of said arch, loops of inverted-U form beyond said bends, said loops being adapted for insertion between the reinforcing-strip at the upper margin of a basket and the side wall of the basket, outward bends beyond said. loops, and upward extensions beyond said outer bends forming means for securing said loops in position between the reinforcing-strip and the side wall of the basket.

6. T he combination with a basket, of a handle therefor, consisting of a wire bent to form loops open at the bottom, said loops projecting at right angles to the plane of the handle and extending between the reinforcing-strip at the upper margin of the basket and the body of said basket, the free legs of the loops being bent ontwardl y, upwardly and over the upper edge of the basket with their ends extending under the inner reinforcing-strip of the basket.

T. A basket-handle 'formed of wire having its side members bent inwardly and upwardly and then laterally and downwardly to form loops open at the bottom, said loops standing at right angles to the plane of the handle.

8. A basket-handle having at the ends of its side members and onv the inner side thereof laterally-projeeting loops,open at the bottom.

9. A basket-handle having at the ends of its side members and on the inner side thereot' laterally-projecting loops open at the bottom, said loops extending in opposite directions.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specilication in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT CHARLES TOTZKE. lVitnesses:

FRANK BRACELIN, ANTHONY CANAVAN.

IOO 

